VERTICALITY (AS JO BETH YOUNG)

During the recording of her last album, 'Strangers', Jo Beth Young and violinist Helen Ross had booked a hall to record the violin. After they had finished, Jo Beth started playing the piano which was in a corner (with missing keys), and the two of them started improvising. Also, in the hall that afternoon was the poet Shiu, who started writing words as a response to what he was hearing. Jo Beth and Helen later decided to improvise again, but this time they set up a microphone in the middle of the hall, and Jo Beth sang the words over the top in one take. This is the result of that session, and to say it is magical is something of an understatement. The piano is obviously beat up, but due to that it has a resonance all its own, while there is an interaction between Jo Beth and Helen that is really quite special. When Jo Beth sent this to me I played it and immediately hit repeat, and felt I was being transported into somewhere quite special indeed, where time and space cease to exist and it is only the piano, the violin, and those ethereal wonderful vocals. To think this was fully improvised, with words written only that afternoon, which had never been set to a melody, is simply unthinkable. This is a very special moment, captured in time, and as listeners we are so very lucky indeed to be part of it. Hauntingly beautiful.